This refers to the editorial "Rahul Gandhi's 'Are you serious?' moment" (April 21). In a democratic set up, it is the masses who decide on leadership. India has given the leadership role to the Gandhi family for the sacrifices they made. And the legacy will continue with Rahul Gandhi as its future leader.Recalling the various decisions of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi is fine but blaming Rahul Gandhi for any lapses is not fair. He should be judged by his own actions. On April 19, he spoke from the heart and the masses hailed him as a hero.Time is not static, it moves on. The times have changed and so will the history and techniques of business, and economics. Roosevelt used radio, Kennedy used television and Obama used social media. This shows that the history, perception and usability keep changing.Moreover, some in the media rated Rahul Gandhi positively for his firebrand speech in Parliament.Manohar Lal Yadav  AlwarLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Busines

Letters: In defence of Rahul

Business Standard

The Narendra Modi government has lost much of its sheen in the one year that it has been in power due to its inactions, as was expected in India and abroad. Modi's slogan of "achhe din" (better days) has been completely belied. This is visible in the declining stock market, poor corporate financial results, rising bad loans of banks, farmer suicides and the government's apathy towards all these problems, which corporates, FIIs, farmers and the public had expected while voting the National Democratic Alliance to power.Modi's over-enthusiasm to tour as many countries as possible, efforts of making world records - as seen by launching the populist Jan Dhan Yojana, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s membership campaign through missed calls - are all away from the reality and working against him and the party. Public speeches were welcomed by the public before Modi came to power, as people wanted change at the Centre. But now, they want real work and not speeches. The BJP must realise that Modi

Letters: Where are the achhe din?

Apropos the editorial "Waiting for action" (April 29). Markets largely mirror the state of an economy. There is an unmistakable deja vu in the ongoing uncertainty of bourses, a throwback to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-II era. Our economic fundamentals have hardly changed from 2012/13 to a year into a new government, for the major reason that global economies are yet to recover from the post-2008 upheaval.The growth levels in UPA II were never alarming, given the global scenario. The government fell due to political faux pas and a perceived administrative ennui exploited by an impatient Opposition. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in its anxiety to leverage the prevailing stasis, assumed that a political change would usher in an economic revival on its own. It disregarded the basics and worse, engaged in projecting a larger than life image of itself. The complexities of a global economic dispensation are not tackled on hope or hype.The BJP's performance is contingent on major

Letters: Political throwback

A report by Ericsson explains the diverse behavior among individuals along with their need of smartphones and mobile internet usage in India

Infographic: Mobile broadband landscape in India

Since the start of this month the rupee has weakened by about one per cent

Rupee weakens by over 1%

Report on the railway Budget shines, but also falters

Saving the railways

The Indian market looks like it has run out of steam

Waiting for action

Of the million comments on net neutrality that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) received and uploaded on its website, one took followers of the debate by total surprise. It was a passionate love letter which, for reasons difficult to fathom, was sent to the telecom regulator. Yesterday, along with the comments, Trai had also uploaded the names and e-mail addresses of people who had sent their views on the issue through the 'Save the Internet' platform. Most of these views were pre-drafted. Evidently, there was no filter in place to flush out unrelated e-mails.

Love angle

He had promised that his fight against the Narendra Modi government on the proposed land reforms would become "much bigger". So, after trekking to the hills, the Bharatiya Janata Party government's most vociferous critic of the day took the common man's transport to reach out to farmers affected by unseasonal rain. Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi reached Punjab by train yesterday to take stock of the situation in the state's grain markets where farmers were finding it difficult to sell their produce. If things go according to his plans, Gandhi will undertake a padyatra from either the Vidarbha region in Maharashtra or from Telangana in the first week of May to connect with farmers in that region.

Connecting with farmers

When the media asked him to come back from oblivion and join active politics during a recent visit to Gujarat, former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary Sanjay Joshi reiterated that he was still active as a BJP worker. One would remember that earlier this month, hoardings had appeared near the BJP headquarters on Ashoka Road in New Delhi, imploring Prime Minister Narendra Modi to rehabilitate Joshi in the BJP. Modi and Joshi were BJP leaders managing the affairs of Gujarat in the late 1990s, before falling out. Joshi has been in political limbo for about a decade now.

Alive and kicking

This refers to Sunita Narain's column "Planting trees for development" (Down to Earth, April 26). After independence, India took to Vanamahotsav and family planning in a big way and made them both a national mission. We have moved away from these lofty objectives and are the second largest populated nation in the world. Moreover, our tree cover is rapidly shrinking.We need tree lovers, such as Sunderlal Bahuguna and Saalumarada Thimmakka, and movements like Chipko and Appiko to save our tress and our life. Without trees humans would not exist. Ancient Indian texts such as Vrikshayurveda extol the virtues of trees. We have just started to realise the true nature of tree-benevolence. More importantly, the absence of trees would mean the near absence of oxygen.H N Ramakrishna  BengaluruLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011) 23720201E-mail: letters@bsmail.inAll letters must have a postal add

Letters: Planting a solution

This refers to the editorial "Preparing for tragedies" (April 27). While the Himalayan nation is engaged in the rescue operation on a war footing in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake, media reported a visit by a group of social scientists a week ago to Nepal to assess the quake-resistant measures. One of the experts said that a natural disaster was waiting to happen any time soon. This is a shocking revelation.Considering Nepal is a mountainous region and earthquake-prone, if seismic-resistant initiatives were adhered to in urban planning, the lives of more than 3,000 people and the loss of property, including the tourist landmark Dharahara Tower and the Patan Durbar Square - a world heritage site - could have been easily saved. Perhaps, India could learn a lesson or two from this episode.R Prabhu Raj  ChennaiLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011) 23720201E-mail: letters@bsmail

Letters: Lessons from a tragedy

This refers to the report "Mamata renames six cities" (April 24). The news that six cites will be renamed shows the total misapplication of focus that is plaguing West Bengal. One does not know if this is being done to tickle national pride or for electoral benefits. Apart from costing money and confusing people, changing names won't add to employment, economic activity or social benefit. The same mistake was committed by the metro railways when it renamed existing stations, which clearly described the location, with names that gave no clue as to where one was. This change was most inconvenient for infrequent users, and even more so for visitors, when the main aim of any transport system has to be customer convenience.One can only hope that people of Bengal will be able to travel to Bolpur without having to go to Gitabitan, or Bansdroni without saying the new mouthful "Masterda Surya Sen Metro Station".P Datta  KolkataLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business Sta

Letters: There's a lot in a name

This refers to Bhupesh Bhandari's column "As neutral as it gets" (White Knight, April 24). The column, although well argued from a certain point of view, misses the economic argument of net neutrality. Imagine, for the sake of argument, that the entire web world has signed in for Airtel Zero; that is, any customer, browsing any site is not going to pay for the connectivity. What does one expect in a world like this? Wastage.The payment by consumers will also ensure that the marginal utility of browsing a website matches the customer's willingness to pay. When the cost of browsing is being borne by a third party, the wastage of precious net connectivity is almost a foregone conclusion.Indranil Chakraborty  MumbaiLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011) 23720201E-mail: letters@bsmail.inAll letters must have a postal address and telephone number

Letters: Net worth

How the US pressed India into changing its stance on refrigerants

India commits to phasing out HFCs

Need to reduce scrutiny period for tax claims

Easy tax reform

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had received over a million responses to its discussion paper on over-the-top technology services, which had triggered the net neutrality debate. On Monday, it put up all these responses, along with the e-mail addresses of senders, on its website, creating a new debate on social media relating to 'privacy neutrality'. A cursory look at the list of comments on a particular date showed that there were several e-mails from the same address. E-mails relating to the change of billing plans without the consent of the customer and similar complaints had also made their way into the list. Before one could investigate further, the Trai website crashed.

Trai's million problems

Burglars had a free run over the weekend as residents in some places in India affected by Saturday's earthquake decided to spend the night in the open after social media went berserk with predictions about fresh tremors and imaginary NASA advisories. People lost cash and valuables worth several lakhs of rupees when they left their homes to pitch tents in parks and other open spaces. If it was any consolation, the thieves didn't spare former ministers and MLAs, as some reports coming from Bihar indicated.

The aftershocks

If he does his own thing, he is accused of being a reluctant politician. If he speaks his mind or joins a protest march, he's accused of being in "a rent-a-cause" phase. Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi came under fresh attack on Sunday when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley questioned his commitment to politics. Jaitley said that after returning from a long sabbatical during a crucial period in Parliament, Gandhi seemed to be on a mission to pick up an issue a day just to make his presence felt. Gandhi has, since his return, attacked the Narendra Modi-led government on the land acquisition Bill, on net neutrality and over the problems faced by farmers, calling the government a "suit-boot ki sarkar", which was "pro-corporate" and "anti-farmer".

Criticism, left, right and centre

This refers to T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan's column "Farming: Barking up the wrong trees" (Text & Context, April 26). The travesty of our democracy is that people who constitute 60 per cent of population remain unrepresented in the media. People who write about farming and its problems seldom present the complete picture of agriculture distress. They give suggestions through their narrow lens.In this column, the author is doubtful of the skills of farmers. As a farmer's son, I can say that farming needs skill as much as other professions. It is not a casual affair. To be an efficient betel nut leaf cutter, he or she sometimes requires training of more than a year. This is his skill but he has failed to acquire marketing skills where unscrupulous middlemen exploit him.It is obvious that technology increases productivity but it is wrong to say that it doesn't increase with an increase in the farmer's skills. Modern technology needs skills to operate it. Our extension services in agricul

Letters: A farmer's point of view

This refers to T N Ninan's column "Waiting for the uptick" (Weekend Ruminations, April 25). The basics of economic development are investment and demand for products and services. The banking and financial systems in the country today are sitting on mountains of cash, which can be lent to industrialists and entrepreneurs.Seventy per cent of India's population does not have a discretionary rupee in their hands after meeting the basic necessitates such as food, shelter, clothing, health care and so on. How will the demand be created so that new industries can come up and existing industries can expand too?We were taught in college by our eminent teachers of economics that to ensure growth and development in the country, the purchasing powers should be created in the hands of the people. This might sound like the "chicken and egg" syndrome but it is the duty of the government to solve this riddle, so that the economy can grow.Nirupam Haldar  KolkataLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed

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